PING
Here is another article from seattlepi.com on the same story:
Prosecutors: Egyptian looked at arms sites
By WOODY BAIRD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Prosecutors allege that an Egyptian man searched the Internet for ways to smuggle guns and bombs past airport security in what might have been a plot to launch a terrorist attack in the U.S.
Authorities said they had no evidence directly linking Mahmoud Maawad, 29, to terrorists but asked for his detention as a precaution.
He has been held without bond since his arrest in September for using a fake Social Security number to enroll at the University of Memphis. Maawad came to the United States on a visitor's visa but never left after it expired in 1999, authorities said.
Authorities refuse to talk about their ongoing investigation of Maawad, but in a court filing Feb. 16, prosecutors said a computer seized from his apartment showed he was "linking to web sites that are associated with Ansar Al-Islam, a radical Sunni Muslim organization in Iraq."
Maawad drew attention of federal investigators when Sporty's U.S.A., a company selling aviation gear, complained that he failed to pay for $3,000 worth of goods ordered over the Internet.
He is charged in a federal indictment with defrauding the company with a debit card with insufficient funds.
The court filing said Maawad's computer showed searches for information on how guns and bombs can be smuggled past airport security. Authorities also found DVDs on pilot training and charts on the layout of the Memphis airport. One of the DVDs was titled "How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act."
Federal prosecutors said in the filing that they believed Maawad "was either planning or participating in a potential terrorist event inside the United States."
The filing was in response to a defense "discovery" request for information on the government's evidence against Maawad. Prosecutors gave few details in the open-records portion of their response, but showed their concerns that Maawad was planning an act of violence.
Maawad is being represented by the federal public defender's office, which has consistently refused to discuss the case. Calls to the office were not immediately returned Tuesday evening.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Student_Arrested.html
Another item about an incidnet relating to memphis:
FBI investigating ‘mass destruction’ inquiry:MIDDLE EASTERN MAN ASKING QUESTIONS!!
The Daily Helmsman ^ | February 21, 2002 | By Rick Russell
Posted on 02/23/2002 7:39:19 PM PST by RaceBannon
FBI investigating ‘mass destruction’ inquiry
By Rick Russell Senior Reporter February 21, 2002
Federal and local authorities are investigating a man who approached a University of Memphis professor last week seeking information about weapons of mass destruction. The professor, who wished to remain anonymous, said a man of Middle Eastern descent approached him while he was in his office Feb. 13 and asked for a “crash course in the physics that deals with mass destruction.”
In return, the man told the professor he would pay him money for the requested information.
“He told me that money was no object, and that he had plenty of it,” said the professor.
The professor said the bizarre nature of the man’s inquiry and inconsistencies the man gave about his background prompted him to notify Federal authorities while the man sat in his office.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation then informed U of M police, who found the man still sitting in the office when they made the scene.
Bruce Harber, director of public safety at The U of M, said the man was compliant during questioning and supplied officers with a Tennessee driver’s license and a work visa.
However, Harber said the man gave conflicting statements about background information and how he got to the U of M campus.
Police then contacted Immigration Naturalization Service to confirm his background.
INS verified that the information was valid and released the man.
Authorities would only identify the man as a Somalian citizen carrying a visa issued from Nigeria who is currently living in Memphis.
George Bolds, spokesman for the Memphis office of the FBI, said they are currently looking into the incident.
The man is not a student at The U of M.